An April 24 auction of millions of dollars worth of AV equipment, furnishings and vehicles will mark the sad finale of Roscor Corp., for more than three decades one of the Midwest’s largest and most successful AV integration, engineering and equipment rental facilities.
On black Friday, Oct. 28, Roscor owners Paul and Mitch Roston shocked the AV equipment and systems industry when they fired 100 of their 180 employees. Although Paul Roston announced the company was retaining its engineering division of 30, the building was empty by early February, when the Rostons said they had filed for bankruptcy.
The Branford Group of Connecticut will hold the auction at the Holiday Inn Mt. Prospect, 200 E. Rand Road, “where buyers will be comfortably seated theatre style and be able to see the items on a giant screen and also via our website,” says Branford partner James Gardner.
Gardner will be one of three auctioneers conducting the sale at the hotel, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Bidders can inspect the items on Monday, at Roscor, also from nine to four,” he says.
Among the items on sale will be:
New integration parts and components including: flat screen LCD monitors; Canon 5D & 7D cameras & lenses; DVD, Blu-Ray; 3D players; decks, racks, software, microphones and much more.
Video rental gear: Cameras, lenses, batteries, d, Monitors, mixing consoles, Avid Editing Systems, Broadcast Pix Granite HD video switcher; projectors, screens, tripods, audio monitors, microphones and support equipment.
More than 2,000 spools: Audio, video, Cat 5, Cat 6, Control, Speaker & Crestron Cable by Belden, Smartwire and Liberty.
Plant Support & Material Handling: Clark 3,000-lb. Cap. electric forklift; Clark 3,000-Lb. Cap. stand-up electric forklift; hydraulic pallet jacks; shop dollies; pallet racking; utility shelving; 8-ft. brake, 52-inch shear; hand and power tools, welders, bandsaw, Joboxes and fully equipped service and repair facility items.
Offices: Executive office and conference room furniture; computers, printers, copiers; video eleconferencing, HP servers and sundries.
Vehicles: 1958 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud Limousine; 2010 Audi S5; 2005 Mercedes Benz E500; six 2008 and 2003 Honda Elements; 2008 Ford Escape; three 2007 and 2008 Chevrolet Express 1500 Vans; 2005 Chevrolet Astro Van and 2000 Ford Taurus Station Wagon.
See the complete catalog here.
Roscor’s was the first in the video business here
AV giant Roscor grew out of patriarch Phil Roston’s original Camera Exchange store in the Loop. In 1974, it branched out as one of the city’s first video rental outlets and expanded, with sons Paul and Mitch, as the AV Center to larger quarters on Lincoln Ave. and Lehigh Ave. in Morton Grove.
“When they moved to their building in Mt. Prospect in 1977, they changed the name to Roscor,” recalls Bennett Grossman, one of the company’s first employees, who rose in rank from driving a truck to VP/rental division.
“Roscor had a great reputation for engineering and always seemed to always have the upper echelon of high-end sales. The Rostons hired good people and were good about nurturing those they believed would be successful for them and gave them all the tools they needed to do so,” Grossman says.
After ReelChicago broke the news of Roscor’s meltdown last fall, an outpouring of job offers came to those “good people” from AV companies throughout the country.
AVI Systems of Minneapolis opened a Bensenville branch with the hiring of 33 former Roscor experts, and Diversified Group of Kenilworth, New York set up shop in Schaumburg with eight Roscor specialists. Most of the others quickly found new job opportunities.
